Carsales Staff•3 Feb 2014
NEWS
FCAI slams Productivity Commission position paper
Peak automotive industry body launches a salvo in response to 'selective analysis'The Productivity Commission's study into the local automotive industry has drawn the ire of the FCAI following the release of a position paper last week.
Not content with issuing a press release titled 'Productivity Commission position paper undermines auto manufacturing', the FCAI (Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries) left no one in any doubt it believes the position paper makes recommendations not in the best interests of the nation – even dismissing the findings with a vein of sarcasm.
"It is unsurprising to note that the PC again runs the same argument it always runs: that the world would be a better place if only the Australian Government didn’t support the automotive industry," one sentence read.
The Chamber was highly critical of the Commission's apparent failure to observe the study's Terms of Reference, which specifically charged the Commission with considering the industry assistance provided by the governments of other "major and emerging automotive-producing" nations. According to the FCAI, the Commission detailed industry assistance in other countries in a 19-page appendix ('Appendix B'), but stated that further analysis of these examples and how they contrasted with the Australian market was "not feasible."
By implication, the FCAI appears to take the view that the Commission has abrogated its responsibility – ignoring industry assistance provided overseas – while ostensibly satisfying the terms of reference by publishing Appendix B.
"Why does almost every other G20 country think their automotive industry is an important part of their economy and their future?" the Chamber rhetorically asks in its press release.
The broadside continues, with the Chamber's observation that the Commission has downplayed benefits to the broader community from supporting the local manufacturing industry. "Thousands of jobs" are at risk, the Chamber also notes, from the Commission's "selective analysis" – described by in the press release as "extremely disturbing."
In the release, the Chamber calls on the government to place less weight on the findings of the Commission, in making changes that will have a nationwide economic impact.
But the FCAI's words may fall on deaf ears. More to the point, it may be a case of too little, too late. Ford and Holden have both signalled that they will not reconsider their plans to end manufacturing by the end of 2017, and Toyota is set to make a decision about its manufacturing future here around the end of the second quarter.
And presumably that decision will not be influenced much by the Productivity Commission's formal findings anyway.
FCAI press release:
Key points of Productivity Commission's Position Paper:
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